World's most glamorous princess

It was the moment a new royal star was born. Until she sashayed up the steps of the palace in ­Madrid in full view of the world’s press and performed the seemingly impossible task of putting Carla Bruni in the shadows, Princess Letizia of Spain was a household name only in her own country.

PUBLISHED: 00:00, Fri, May 1, 2009

REGAL BEAUTY: Princess Letizia with Crla Bruni last week

Now all that has changed. The ­picture of the ­figure-hugging designer dress and towering platform heels that accentuated Letizia’s natural curves went round the world.

Her ­dazzling encounter with the French First Lady was described by Paris newspaper Le Figaro as “a duel of ­elegance and glamour”. There was only one winner and, for once, that wasn’t Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife.

The cerise Felipe Varela bandage dress and raspberry Rebecca Sanver shoes worn by Letizia during the two-day state visit by the French president and his wife are already being copied.

The dove grey satin gown with full beaded skirt she changed into for a gala dinner the same evening (with tiara loaned by her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia) succeeded in upstaging Mrs Sarkozy again.

Yet the princess who made so many headlines this week was once better known for reading them. For Letizia (who is married to Crown Prince Felipe) was previously the country’s leading TV news reporter, and her story, which includes family tragedy, has entranced Spain and given a fresh lease of life to the royal family there.

She has given the royals a fresh, modern edge

“The royals have long been popular in Spain, largely because of King Juan Carlos’s role in the transition from dictatorship to democracy,” says one royal observer.

“But Letizia and her handsome husband have given them a fresh, modern edge. A lot of that is due to Letizia’s background, her feisty charm, and of course her beautiful look. They have made royalty less stuffy and given it a new glamour.”

Letizia, 36, is the daughter of a ­successful radio journalist father and a nurse. As a youngster she dreamed of being a professional dancer and when the family moved to Madrid from their home in north-west Spain, she met ­literature teacher Alonso Guerrero Perez, a budding author, at the high school she attended. He was 10 years her senior and they began dating when she was 17.

After studying journalism at university in Madrid, she found work with leading national newspaper ABC, but her sharp brain and stunning looks soon landed her jobs with CNN and Bloomberg TV. Then, in 1998 aged 25, Letizia married her former teacher Perez in a civil ceremony. The marriage lasted less than a year before the couple divorced.

Her professional life went from strength to strength. Letizia became a special correspondent with TVE, the Spanish equivalent of the BBC, and travelled the globe covering the ­biggest stories.

She reported on the 9/11 attacks in New York and the 2003 invasion of Iraq before taking over as anchorwoman on Spain’s flagship TV news show.

It was on assignment that the ­journalist fell for the future King of Spain. The couple met at a dinner party in Madrid thrown by a TV executive in September 2002. Two months later they were thrown together in the midst of a national disaster.

On November 13, 2002, the oil tanker Prestige sank off the coast of Galicia, polluting thousands of miles of coastline. Letizia went to cover the story and the prince was there to offer ­support to locals as they coped with the country’s worst ever environmental catastrophe.

The couple began a serious relationship but decided to keep it secret, concerned about the media attention it would create.

The Madrid palace approved of the courtship, turning a blind eye to a precedent stating that anyone who wishes to marry a commoner must be prepared to renounce the throne. Queen Sofia appeared to disagree with the rule, once saying in an interview: “All we ask (of our children) is that they marry someone nice and decent who looks after them.”

The couple launched a strategy to keep their relationship out of the public eye, so the Spanish public was pleasantly stunned in November 2003 when the palace announced that they were engaged. A palace spokesman described Letizia as “conscientious, consistent, mature and serious”, adding quaintly: “Without doubt her profile is adequate.”

If anyone thought Letizia was going to play the part of the blushing bride they were quickly proved wrong. During a television interview to mark their engagement, Letizia gently scolded the prince when he interrupted her answer to a question.

When the engagement was announced she quit her job and moved into the guest wing of the Zarzuela Palace. Some conservative Catholic commentators questioned the wedding because of Letizia’s previous marriage but Felipe, 41, was reported to have had a string of ­relationships with beautiful women.

As Letizia’s first marriage was a ­civil rather than a religious one it was possible to go ahead with a traditional Roman Catholic ceremony.

The couple married in May 2004 in the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid, with 1,400 VIP guests including 30 heads of state. Prince Charles and Nelson Mandela were among those in attendance.

Letizia wore an off-white gown with a 15ft embroidered train. Her diamond and platinum tiara was the one Queen Sofia wore at her 1962 wedding to King Juan Carlos. Letizia also wore it at the Madrid ball this week.

Prince Felipe dressed in his blue army major’s uniform, with medals of honour from all three services. His wife became Princess Letizia of Asturias – the first commoner in more than five centuries to be Queen. ­

Although a million Spaniards turned out in the streets to celebrate the marriage, the day was marked by an unmistakable air of sadness, as it fell two months after the country’s most devastating terrorist attacks.

The nation was still in a state of shock after an Al Qaeda-inspired cell killed 192 people and injured 1,600 more by blowing up four commuter trains heading into the capital.

T he couple have two daughters, the Infanta Leanor, now three, and the Infanta Sofia, two, who are second and third in line to the throne. Despite the popularity of the young royals, Letizia has been through some tumultuous times since marrying the prince.

In March 2005 one newspaper, El Mundo, described her as having “the princesses’ disease”, noting she was “extremely thin” and “with marked ­facial features and threadlike arms”.

The Spanish Palace took the unprecedented step of denying that Letizia was suffering from anorexia, insisting: “It is absolutely false that Dona Letizia suffers from the said illness.” But the rumour continued and the parallels with Princess Diana, who admitted suffering from the eating disorder bulimia, were clear.

Worse was to come in February 2007, when Letizia’s younger sister Erika, aged 31, committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.

Erika, who was survived by a six-year-old daughter Carla, had been suffering from depression following the breakdown of her marriage to sculptor Antonio Vigo.

Last year saw another debate ­after Letizia had surgery on her nose. Royal sources confirmed the ­operation but insisted it was to solve a breathing problem – yet other ­reports suggested it was purely cosmetic and that she also had work done to remove wrinkles and soften her chin.

Again like Princess Diana, her clear sympathies with the public have cemented Letizia’s popularity but it is her style that draws many of the headlines.

Last year she came fifth in Vanity Fair magazine’s list of the best-dressed women, one place behind Carla Bruni. After this week’s appearance, that’s unlikely to happen again.

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